THE CONFERENCE

In May of each year, The New Harmony Project gathers together writers, actors, directors, dramaturgs, and students to spend two weeks developing new scripts. The Project's staff and volunteer readers from around the country review the submissions in the fall of each year, with a goal of selecting eight to ten writers to invite to participate.

The 2018 conference received nearly 500 submissions, and writers will be announced by March of 2018.

writers in full development

Following a rigorous selection process, two to four writers are selected as writers in Full Development. These projects receive full support from a creative team including a director and dramaturg, a full cast of professional and student actors, and additional support from staff and student interns. The writer spends the duration of the conference working on one specific script, which culminates in a reading that is free and open to the public. This full focus on one script allows the writer time and space to develop and workshop a project in an unparalleled way.

writers in residence

Sometimes a writer will come to us with multiple projects, a project that is early in development, or a desire to simply write. For artists, sometimes space and time is all you need to get your creative juices flowing, and for that, we created the Writer in Residence program. Two weeks to work on anything you would like. A peaceful utopian oasis designed to free you from the outside world and just write. Writers are given the opportunity to share what they're working on with the community in a series of "one-night reads," and receive dramaturgical support from student interns.

Artists with families

Writers and artists with families are encouraged to apply and participate. Throughout The Project's history, we have worked to support artists with families by providing some of the following:

Onsite childcare

Family friendly housing

Flexible travel arrangements

Shortened residency periods

In 2018, we are working to expand this program to offer additional support, such as:

Family travel stipends

Offsite childcare stipends

High school outreach Program

Students from the five surrounding counties of Southern Indiana are invited to spend a day with The Project. Over the course of eight hours, they spend time in rehearsal, have Q&A's with writers and creative teams, participate in writing and acting workshops, have lunch with the company, and learn about the development of new work.